In our current world of exponential brand choices, it is increasingly important to have a “sticky” customer base who keeps coming back for more. Not only will this increase your revenue and profitability, but it’ll also make your brand more reputable and save you on marketing costs.

So, how do you do it?

Well, it starts off with forgetting about creating brand loyalty and instead focusing on building “brand attachment”. From a behavioral psychology perspective, there is a big difference between the two ideas, and it’s crucial to understand the distinction.

While brand loyalty is great, it generally only generates sales from existing customers and doesn’t necessarily create passionate advocates who will promote your brand to others. Brand attachment, on the other hand, is a deep emotional connection that leads to long-term loyalty and advocacy, and that’s where you want to be in today’s highly competitive world.

So, what’s the difference between brand loyalty and brand attachment, you ask? Brand loyalty is when a customer has a strong emotional connection with a brand because of the principles or standards that the brand represents. But brand attachment is when a customer develops an emotional connection with a brand because it aligns with their subconscious desires and needs as a person. And when customers feel attached to a brand, they become vocal advocates who will promote your brand to others.

To achieve brand attachment, you need to connect your brand to your customers’ subconscious desires vs. just relying on providing a quality product or service that meets their “unmet needs”. Attachment comes by building a deep emotional connection with your customers to make them feel like you truly understand and care about them as individuals, not consumers. This means going above and beyond their expectations and providing them with experiences and products that align with their deepest motivations and desires, even when they are buying outside of your category.

In conclusion, building brand attachment should be the ultimate goal for any brand. It’s a powerful emotional connection that leads to long-term loyalty and advocacy. To achieve it, you need to build deep empathy and understanding with your customers, provide them with experiences and products that align with their deepest motivations and desires, and make them feel truly valued and understood.

So, let’s get sticky! If you want to learn more about the difference between brand loyalists and brand advocates and how to do both, check out the video.